Microsoft Will Include Hyper-V Virtualisation In Windows 8

Microsoft’s forthcoming operating system Windows 8 may include Hyper-V virtualisation software, according to new reports.

According to WindowsNow.com blogger Robert McLaws, the presence of the Hyper V v3.0 was found in a leaked, early build of Windows 8. McLaw revelaed the leak in a post on his blog on June 20.

McLaw also claimed to have spotted a handful of modifications in the Hypervisor 3.0, including compatibility with processors that have four cores, a brand new .VHDX virtual hard drive format called NUMA, CHCP, router guard and hardware acceleration.

“A huge step forward for Windows 8. I believe it will have a huge impact on a wide array of usage scenarios, the least of which is the potential for self-contained App-V / Windows XP Mode support. Not to mention better Windows Phone 7/7.5/8 Emulator support,” McLaw wrote.

Up to now, Hyper V has been solely used as a server-end virtualisation utility, compatible with Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003 along with Windows Server 2003 R2 and Windows Server 2008 R2. It also has the ability to run quite a few versions of the Linux OS as guests.

But it may be that Microsoft has decided to incorporate the technology into its new consumer OS, which will be used on both PCs and tablets.